The changing face of learning and business

Jan 15 2008 By The Journal

BARRIERS between business and academia are crashing down. With courses such as the Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA), pioneering institution Newcastle University Business School is at the forefront of this dynamic.

Knowledge is power but for many years the twin pillars of education and business were two disparate groups treating each other with at best suspicion, at worst open hostility.

This landscape has changed tremendously over the last few years and Newcastle University Business School is one of the new breed of business educators working hard at making practical sense of the highly complex, rapidly evolving business world around them.

In his inaugural address the Vice-Chancellor of Newcastle University, Professor Chris Brink said: “The old economy launched by the Industrial Revolution is being superseded by the knowledge economy.

“Higher education all around the world is going through a transition. That transition consists of universities learning how to respond to a new question from society, in addition to an old question which has always been asked. The old question about academic work was simply this: “is it good?” the new question is “what is it good for?”

With this in mind research-based business courses such as the DBA have been developed to allow senior managers from the business world to take a step back and develop and expand their knowledge above and beyond their existing work remit.

John Williams, a trained engineer with an MBA (Masters in Business Administration), has been involved in general management in the North-East for the last 17 years and is currently the general manager of North Tyneside-based North of England Microelectronics Institute (NEMI).

He says: “My current company is involved in training and workforce development in the technology sector, together with property management and networks for technology businesses.”

John is also close to completing his DBA at Newcastle University Business School.

He explains: “I have been a front line engineer, I have worked in operations, within research and development and I have run my own business consultancy – however as general manager, because of the nature of the role you end up knowing a little bit about a wide range of topics.

“The DBA ,which I study part time at the business school, has enabled me to conduct specialist research focusing on industrial clusters (groups of businesses and other organisations linked by common economic interest such as chemicals or defence) in the North-East.”

It is an area that John finds particularly interesting and one which enables him to carry out his day job more effectively.

He says: “I have been developing a means of using the internet to automate a technology process that could be really useful for companies looking to identify networks of organisations as potential customers or suppliers.

“It is work which I believe will provide a useful and easy to use record of information, not only for my current company, which operates well beyond the scope of just the micro-electronics sector, but also by others looking for well researched business information in the region.”

In business the world can change overnight.

John says: “The semi-conductor sector, though lucrative, can be volatile as the planned closure of the region’s Atmel site has proved and yet in other clusters such as the offshore marine industry business is booming.

“This has led to a shortage of marine designers in the North-East, a situation made even more pressing as there are a number of large scale naval and defence projects coming up over the next 10 years which will sustain the activity.”

By conducting research and analysing activity whilst studying for his DBA John has identified how useful applied academic research can be.

It will be the region’s ability to react to changing circumstances through the continued development of its knowledge base that will determine its success or failure.

The North-East’s universities and business schools such as Newcastle University Business School have a central role to play by
continuing to unravel the complexities of the world around us through a process of applied learning.

For more information regarding Newcastle University Business School please visit: www.ncl.ac.uk/nubs or e-mail DBA-Admissions@ncl.ac.uk